The fourth season of BigBen Survivor finds itself in the deserts of Jordan. This was the first season to have a game-long impacting twist know as the “Black Vote Twist” where once a player was eliminated from the game they’d be able to cast a vote against someone at the next tribal council. I will say this now but Jordan was “NOT” a good season so the voting history and memory is not necessarily all there so this overview can be improvised a bit. Other than that, a decent amount of this cast was inactive.
PreMerge
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Alright, so unlike the Nepal premerge this is one that I will not go completely in-depth about each round as there was just general inactivity. However, I will post the original and swapped tribes along with a short summary regarding each vote as the first two tribal councils proved to be somewhat interesting.
Original Tribes
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Jerash *Purple Buffs*
Dan (Duke)
Jimbo (sahmosean)
Josh (mman23)
Kortnay (kort)
Liam (flatl99)
Logan (thegamingdragon)
Loop (Loopulle)
Mike (Michael31)
Zach (zachboy967)
Sakib (*Light Blue Buffs*
Big Joe (NewOrleanPelicans)
Erik (ItsOfficial)
Jake (Jkjkjk15)
John (Jxhn)
Kelly (Kelly0412)
Noah (TheLogic)
Norse (Norse)
Trey (trey2288)
Zach (jayhawk123)
Final 18 – Sakib is heading to the first tribal council where someone is getting voted out. Ultimately, coming into the game Kelly and Noah were closely as they were friends outside the game. Noah brings in Jake as they seem to develop an alliance. Kelly’s ultimate hope is that herself, Noah, Jake, Trey, and Erik all vote out Big Joe tonight against John, Zach and Big Joe. However, on the other side of it Big Joe is rallying the troops against Kelly this really put Erik and Trey in the swing vote position. Erik and Trey both voted Kelly in a 6-3 vote as they felt Kelly was too unstable in the game. Also, Trey found an idol.
Final 17 – Sakib heads to tribal council for a second straight tribal. Jake or Noah will be the one voted out tonight. Jake had begun making some social in-roads while Noah was starting to check out after losing Kelly. That did not stop the fight, but it made clear that Noah would be the target for the alliance of six. In the end, Jake self-voted but Kelly (BV) and Noah voted Norse. But the majority stuck to their guns and voted Noah in a vote of 6-2-1.
Final 16 & Final 15 – It was a double tribal council where Jake and Jimbo won individual immunity! Jimbo was probably safe on Jerash but Jake won a needed immunity necklace. At Sakib, the majority of six had to turn on one another and it wasn’t as dramatic as I thought as Zach was extremely inactive. Kortnay was also voted for same reason. I am assuming that Jake and Noah (BV) did Trey while Zach self-voted and the majority did Zach in a 6-2 vote. Kortnay was voted out 7-2 with Logan and Zach self-voting.
Tribe Swap #1
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Jerash *Purple Buffs*
Dan (Duke)
Erik (ItsOfficial)
Jake (Jkjkjk15)
John (Jxhn)
Logan (thegamingdragon)
Norse (Norse)
Zach (zachboy967)
Sakib *Light Blue Buffs*
Big Joe (NewOrleansPelicans)
Jimbo (sahmosean)
Josh (mman23)
Liam (flatl99)
Loop (Loopulle)
Mike (Michael31)
Trey (trey2288)
Final 14 – NuJerash heads to tribal and immediately looks like Logan, Duke, or Zach will be the next one voted out as they are outnumbered. However, with two black votes in play then anything can happen. John begins to make a move by aligning with some known names in Zach, Erik, and Duke. Big Joe had been pissing off his own tribe but was banned for some unknown reason. Norse name was starting to hit the block, but John was protecting him as he believed Norse would lookout for him. At tribal, Logan tried bluffing having a hidden immunity idol and that did not end well. At tribal, the whole tribe voted for Logan and Logan voted for Zach. The black votes remain a mystery who voted who but Zach likely voted Erik and Kortnay probably voted Jake in a 6-1-1-1 vote.
Final 13 – NuJerash wins immunity! The original Jerash run the table meaning that either Big Joe or Trey is going home. Trey has an idol. But will he play it? Joe is banned and has been rubbing his tribe the wrong way. There was a plan that was set into motion by Trey to potentially gun for Jimbo and idol him out. However, Jimbo’s dominance persevered and scared Trey into not voting him which was a bad decision. In the end, Trey and Josh were blindsided as they voted for Big Joe and the rest voted Trey in a 6-2 vote with Logan’s BV on Trey. I’m assuming Jimbo and company picked up word that Josh was being included into a new alliance with Trey and was left out of the vote. Also, Mike finds an idol.
Final 12 – NuSakib wins immunity! After the results of last round and John seemingly playing both sides with Erik this vote could really go in any direction. Originally, the vote was going to be between Jake and Zach. Jake was being targeted by his old tribemates in Erik with Dan and Zach. However, John who proved to be a lynch pin with Norse decided why not go after Dan who was a big threat. Dan, going was smart as he had all intentions of attempting to play both sides and flip flop. In the end, the first real blindside happened with Dan being voted out in a 5-2 vote with Trey casting his BV against Dan. Dan was supposedly caught trying to flip the vote on Erik.
Merge
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Final 11 – We have hit the merge with Jimbo winning his second individual immunity! The alliances seem to be Jimbo, Liam, Mike, Loop versus Erik, Big Joe, John, Norse, Jake, with Zach and Josh floating. Big Joe and Erik have ties to Jimbo from previous encounters but is that enough. Zach had his own stuff and is not necessarily the most trustworthy. Jimbo is trying to get out either Jake or Norse as he feels they’ll come for him sooner rather than later. At tribal council, Joe self-voted, Loop self-voted, Erik received a vote, Mike received a vote, Josh received a vote. This came down to a single vote between Jake and Zach where Zach was voted out in a 4-3-1-1-1-1 vote. My assumption is that Erik’s vote came from Dan’s BV. Jimbo, Liam, and Mike voted Jake. Jake, Erik, John, and Norse voted Zach. Josh voted Mike. Zach voted Josh.
Final 10 - John wins immunity! The immediate target in John’s mind becomes to go for Jimbo as he’s the best at challenges and looks to be pulling all the strings. He believes that his alliance of himself Erik, Norse, and Jake will stick together. Loop, Mike, Liam, and Jimbo on the other side with Josh and Big Joe floating. Mike and Liam were approached on voting Jimbo and had thoughts about making the move but deciding is it too soon? Liam was inactive so this is all Mike’s thought process who is setup nicely now. However, Jimbo catches wind from Loop that Mike is getting word to turn against him despite it not being set in stone. The bigger question is will Erik and Big Joe going to make the move despite being close to Jimbo. In the end, another crazy inactive/split tribal where Jimbo survives in a 4-3-2-1 vote. I am assuming that the votes for Jimbo were Jake, John, and Norse. Big Joe did self-vote yet again (he really should have been pulled under new regulations smh). The Josh votes likely came from Jimbo, Liam, Mike, and Loop? The Jake vote came from Josh and the Erik vote came from Zach’s BV. Mike changed his vote from Jimbo to Josh in the final minutes.
Final 9 – Jimbo wins immunity! There is not a ton of content, but Jake seemed to be the target for the Jimbo contingent due to him being an end game threat. Norse and Liam self-vote. I am confident Jake and John voted Jimbo. Big Joe likely voted Norse. Josh’s black vote was likely casted against John. That means that Erik, Loop, Jimbo, and Mike voted for Jake. This could be inaccurate but that is what I have stated. Loop might of voted John with Josh or Big Joe voting Jake.
Final 8 – Mike wins immunity! Originally, Mike wanted to go for the goat targets like a Loop or a Norse. However, Jimbo wanted to make a bold play and go for John as he felt he was the biggest threat left to his game. This tribal was the climax of who would probably become the winner of this season. John, Jake, and Norse all voted for Jimbo. Mike, Loop, Jimbo, and Erik vote for John. Liam self-voted and Big Joe votes for Loop. The vote was 4-3-1-1. Jimbo yet again receiving the votes but surviving by the skin of his teeth either shows he is good at keeping his troops in line or is very likely. Reading the confessionals, had John stated he was voting Jimbo to Mike it looked like Mike would have made the move. He was just sketched out by John telling him Loop which was an obvious lie as Loop was the goat of the season.
Final 7 & Final 6 – Jimbo wins immunity! This vote was originally going to be Norse, Liam, Mike, and Loop voting for Jimbo but that plan is foiled and the next best thing would be for Jimbo’s right hand in Erik to leave. On the other side, Erik and Jimbo want to do Norse as he is the biggest activist and eliminating Jimbo. I believe both Erik and Jimbo are planning to take the other to the end while Jimbo is not fully committed. At tribal, Liam self-votes meaning he’s medically evacuated. Loop self-votes and is a vote from being evacuated. Ultimately, Norse is voted out 3-2-2-1. The votes for Norse were Jimbo, Erik, and Big Joe. Loop self-votes and receives John’s BV. Mike and Norse vote Erik. It’s looking like Big Joe, Erik, and Jimbo will be the final three.
Finale – Jimbo wins both immunity challenges and secures his spot at the final tribal council! At the final five, Mike decides to play both hidden immunity idols (assume he has the merge idol too). He plays the first one on himself and the other one on Loop. Mike negates the two votes from Erik and Jimbo on himself and negates Big Joe’s vote on Loop. This was such a missed opportunity in my eyes to vote out Erik as if Mike and Loop did that their case for the end looks a hell lot better. At the final four, the vote originally tied between Erik and Mike meaning Loop secured his spot in the final three. On the revote, I guess Jimbo had a change of heart as Erik had a shot of beating him at the end so Jimbo sent him to jury.
Final Tribal
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This in my opinion should have been a more open final tribal. Jimbo and Mike both played respectable games and I feel looking back that Mike really had a great grasp of the game and used Jimbo effectively as a meat shield. To Jimbo’s credit, he managed to break out of the meat shield mentality and used both Erik and Big Joe effectively for the end game. He did not have to rely on Mike despite having to for premerge and early portion of the merge. Mike was aggressive to make moves, but most fell short at the end. The John vote and double idol play was controversial, but I get his perspective. Loop was a crazy mother fucker, so he had a 0.0% shot of swaying this jury but admired his effort. Also, for some reason Dan was put on the jury lol (maybe due to something with evacts) or something with Jake?
Jury Votes
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Dan – Jimbo
Zach – Jimbo
Josh – Mike
John – Jimbo
Norse – Mike
Big Joe – Jimbo
Erik – Jimbo
Final Synopsis
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Jordan had a couple of cool moments with the idol plays and the messiness of split votes. However, those votes were cause by inactiveness and some individuals not playing hard enough. The Erik and Jimbo duo were one to reflect upon as dominant. Mike is someone who turned out to be really good player despite not being in the group game spotlight. Jake had a much better story than I remembered as well but him not voting at final tribal probably caused me to remove him from the records. Overall, I think Jimbo’s win is viewed less dominant on the rewatch as he was more so hyped up as a huge threat but proved in the end stretch he wasn’t all talk despite Mike holding the game in the palm of his hand. This is likely going to be a bottom tier season as it is way too slow the gameplay.
DVD Cover
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Mike – Jimbo – Erik
John – Zach – Jake
Season Ranking
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1. Nepal
2. Hawaii
3. Iceland
4. JORDAN!
Winner Ranking
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1. Rhys (AndThenThereWasOne)
2. Jimbo (sahmosean)
3. Brandan (Maladus1)
4. Cole (Cole91)
18th: Kelly “Mama K” ( Kelly0412) [Sakib] (6-3)
17th: Noah ( TheLogic) [Sakib] (6-2-1)
16th: Zach ( jayhawk123) [Sakib] (6-2)
15th: Kortnay ( kort) [Jerash] (7-2)
**Tribe Swap**
14th: Logan ( thegamingdragon) [Jerash/Jerash] (6-1-1-1)
13th: Trey ( trey2288) [Sakib/Sakib] (6-2)
12th: Dan ( Duke) [Jerash/Jerash] (5-2)
**Merge**
11th: Zach ( zachboy967) [Jerash/Jerash/Andmct] (4-3-1-1-1-1-1) *1st Member of the Jury*
10th: Josh ( mman23) [Jerash/Sakib/Andmct] (4-3-2-1-1) *2nd Member of the Jury*
9th: Jake ( Jkjkjk15) [Sakib/Jerash/Andmct] (4-2-2-1-1) *3rd Member of the Jury*
8th: John ( Jxhn) [Sakib/Jerash/Andmct] (4-3-1-1) *4th Member of the Jury*
7th: Norse ( Norse) [Sakib/Jerash/Andmct] (3-2-2-1) *5th Member of the Jury*
6th: Liam ( flatl99) [Jerash/Sakib/Andmct] (Medically Evacuated)
5th: Big Joe ( BigJoeFrimodt) [Sakib/Sakib/Andmct] (2(0)-2-1(0)) *6th Member of the Jury*
4th: Erik (@ItsOfficial) [Sakib/Sakib/Andmct] (2-2/2-0) *7th Member of the Jury*
**Final Tribal Council**
2nd Runner Up: Loop (@Loopulle) [Jerash/Sakib/Andmct] (Received 0 votes to win)
Runner Up: Mike ( Michael31) [Jerash/Sakib/Andmct] (Received 2 votes to win)
Sole Survivor: Jimbo ( sahmosean) [Jerash/Sakib/Andmct] (Received 5 votes to win)
The next stop is... India! This is one of my favorite newbie season's coming up!
